Support menu

Search form

Longevity Prescription - Dec. 2nd Health Notes

Is 80 the new 50? It is when you compare Americans' average life expectancy today -- about 78 -- with what it was a century ago, when the average American lived to about 50.

In "The Longevity Prescription," Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert Butler says that this three-decade dividend, as he calls it, doesn't have to be lived out in declining health as many assume.

Common ailments such as heart disease, arthritis and lung problems are arriving a full decade later than they did 100 years ago. This suggests that we have it within our power to increase the chances of staying healthy longer